Monday January 18 (MLK Day), Olympia WA

Skunk Works and FIRSTWAare excited to be partnering and brought the inaugural annual FIRST Advocacy Day to Olympia on Monday, January 18 (MLK Day). The event allows teams to build a relationship with their legislators, leading to increased funding, business support, opportunities for students, and other benefits. Not only that, but by attending teams further FIRSTWA in their pursuit of increased support and funding on STEM education and sports of the mind, especially through competitive robotics.

We also held a training session on January 17, the day before. Besides our line up of speakers who are going to educate students on how to have the biggest impact, attendees will gain confidence to in communicating with legislators.

During our inaugural FIRST Day, over 20 teams met with nearly 100 legislators. Skunk Works met with Senator Bob Hasegawa, Representative Zack Hudgins, and Representative Steve Bergquist. The FIRST teams also held a rally on the Capitol grounds. For 2017, we plan on having our training session over a webinar so that more even more teams will be able to attend.

Here are some documents that might come in useful to teams who are creating their own FIRST Day: